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“Please? Oh come on, kitty! Please come out. Pretty kitty? Please?” Steve cooed at the space under his and Bucky’s bed, where a little dark of pale skin and dark brown fur had barreled under halfway through Steve getting him dressed.
Some people thought that it was probably a bad idea for Steve to still be dressing a kitten of twenty years, but anthro-kittens were little, and often needed more help than human or even their animal counterparts.
There was a slight hissing noise from the kitten under the bed, and Steve sighed, sitting up.
He had no idea whatsoever why Tony might be mad at him. He sighed and pushed himself off the ground. He put Tony’s clothes back on the bed to get him dressed later, and left the bedroom to see if he could find Tony’s dad, Howard, or even the puppy, Rhodey. Tony liked Rhodey more than just about anyone, and always listened to the dog when he asked Tony to do something, but he thinks Bucky took him with him when he went for a jog that morning.
He walked through the hallways towards the lab. Damn, he knew this place was big, but it’s what Howard wanted, and he was the one running an international medical advancement company that had more branches than Walmart.
His kittens were successful. He would kindly like to ignore -see; punch- the idiots who said that pets couldn’t be even more successful than the humans that kept them.
Steve was Captain America though, he’d kick anyone’s ass who said freedom wasn’t important to every species, and that includes the freedom to do what they want with their lives. Besides, hybrids aren’t pets because they have to be, they are because they want to be . That is the kind of thing that should be respected in this world, not punished by making them feel more down.
Still though, this place was way too damn big with just them in it.
“Howard!”
Howard ignored Steve, still spot welding on a tiny circuit board. If there was one thing that hybrids were amazing at, it was seeing small objects.
Finally, he turned the torch off and turned to glare at the giant standing in the doorway to his and Tony’s -very much, hybrid sized - lab. Everything in the room was much more suited to fitting two two and a half foot tall hybrid cats, and Steve was ever so slightly worried to go too far into the room, worried that he’d trip over a tiny workbench and brain himself on a teeny robotic arm.
“What do you want?”
Steve snorted. “Tony’s hiding under my bed, and hissing when I get to close. I can’t figure out why he won’t come out.”
Howard looked at him like he didn’t believe that for one second. “Yeah, like, giving him a bath the other day isn’t call for hiding. You’re lucky he likes you at all after that.”
Steve crossed his arms, frowning, “Howard, I give him a bath every day! He even had fun yesterday! I put in rainbow bubbles like he likes, and gave him his bath toys, just because he got a bath in the morning instead of at night doesn’t mean he should be acting like I’m trying to neuter him!”
Howard looked horrified, “If you try to cut off any parts of my little baby kitten, I’ll cut off all your parts, Steve!”
Steve held up both hands in a sorry manner. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean that Howard, I would never do that to the kitten, you don’t need to worry, I would never hurt him.”
Howard nodded, rolling his eyes, “Good. Hey, did you explain to him after you gave him a bath yesterday morning, that it doesn’t mean all baths are in the morning now?”
Steve blinked a few times, eyes big. “He… thinks I moved bathtime to the morning? No no, I only gave him one yesterday morning because he was stomping around in the mud-”
“Yes,” Howard interrupted, “But, does he know that?”
Steve sighed, looking up at the ceiling. “No, I don’t think so, thanks. I’ll go have a chat with him.”
“Good, now go away.” Steve turned around and left to the sound of Howard turning how blow torch back on, and headed back the way he came.
When he passed by the foyer, he caught Bucky and Rhodey, just coming back in from their run, and smiled, “Nice run, guys?”
The both nodded, but Bucky raised an eyebrow, “Where’s the kitten? Isn’t he normally running around like a dork by now, causing trouble?”
Steve rolled his eyes. His baby wasn’t a troublemaker , he just liked fun, and didn’t always follow the rules like everyone else. He was eccentric . “You better not be calling my baby a troublemaker, Bucky. He’s hiding under our bed though, not even dressed yet. I need to go get him before he attempts to become one with the floor.”
Bucky raised an eyebrow, and Rhodey looked concerned for the kitten. Of course he did. Rhodey always got worried about the kitten. “What happened?”
Steve shook his head, already leaving the room again, “It’s just a misunderstanding, I’ll explain later!”
Steve came into the bedroom and immediately looked under the bed. Tony was staring back out at him, tail swishing behind him and big brown eyes glowing in the slight dark. “Hi little pumpkin baby.”
Tony’s ears twitched forward. He always said that Daddy’s million and a half nicknames for him were weird, but he always purred louder when Daddy called him them. “Go way.”
Steve frowned. His poor little boy probably thought Daddy was gonna give him another bath if he came back out.
Baths were best given to little kittens, when said little kittens were tired and getting ready for bed. “Hey baby, are you worried about bath time?”
Tony’s ears twitched again, and he looked away, “Not worried ‘bout nothing, Daddy. Tony doesn’t take baths.”
Steve smiled, “I know that, lil kitty baby. Tony only takes baths before bedtime.”
Tony gave him a suspicious side eye, “But… Tony took a bath yesterday in the morning?”
Steve nodded, “Yeah, that’s cause Tony was a mucky kitten.”
Tony thought that over for a few minutes. Steve waited patiently. Sometimes, cats, even cat hybrids had a bad sense of permanence. Howard? Howard was almost human, he was so damn good at it, but Tony, though he might be even smarter than Howard was, tended to have a cat’s mind about things. He was smart, but if he was tired and Daddy hadn’t put him to bed yet, sometimes he cried if Steve took him into the kitchen through the hallway door, and not the living room door, because ‘hallway door kitchen’ and ‘living room door kitchen’ are two different kitchens, and he’s supposed to get his sleepy time bottle from ‘living room door kitchen’. It was hard to understand, but Steve had this down mostly by now.
It might have been because he was a kitten, and prefered things that normally babies did, but in a society where it didn’t even register as weird for a hybrid to be treated like a baby, Steve didn’t see any issue in indulging that.
In fact, he’d be quite upset if Tony wanted him to stop babying him. Steve quite liked being his daddy.
Tony contorted a little, so he could take a good look at his little -slightly chubby, but chubby = healthy in Steve’s mind- body. “Tony isn’t mucky now, Dada?”
Steve shook his head, “No, not at all precious baby kitten. Tony’s all clean and soft right now.”
Tony thought about that too. “So… Tony doesn’t take morning bath, today?”
Steve shook his head with a smile, “Nope! Tony doesn’t take a bath till bedtime tonight!”
Tony perked up a little at that, his tail curling behind him. He reached out for Steve now to get him out from under the bed. “Out now, Daddy? I’s nakey.”
Steve grinned and pulled him out, standing up with the little kitten in his arms. Tony was all nakey, having taken off after a diaper change like he had fire on his toes to hide. Steve couldn’t help but admire how sneaky it was. He’d wanted to hide from Daddy, but he needed his bottom all cleaned up first.
Steve laid him back down on the changing mat on the bed. “I know, my little kitten is nakey and needs his clothes. Guess what you get to wear today?”
Tony looked at him with wide eyes, “What?”
Steve smiled solemnly, “Overalls.”
Tony wriggled happily as Steve gently spread lotion around his bottom and the bottom side of where his tail came out. They had to get special made diapers with a slot in them to let a kitten’s tail out, but it’s okay, cause at least it doesn’t squash it. Tony liked overalls though, because when Daddy put him in overalls, that meant he would get to play outside. He got to play outside the day before, but there was no icky mud all over to make the baby dirty, which is good.
When Steve finished taping the baby into a diaper, he smiled, grabbing a shirt off the bed and helping Tony sit up. “Okay, pumpkin, put those little arms up for me, okay?”
Tony reached up and Steve tugged the shirt down over his head, the big ears coming out with a pop and wriggling a little in reaction. “You are the cutest. Can you stand up now and help Daddy get you in your overalls?”
Tony got up excitedly, his little palms going flat on Steve’s giant shoulders, helping him while he concentrated on getting his legs into the overall pants. He liked these overalls, they were red.
Tony smiled, his little thumb going into his mouth to suckle on while Daddy did up the straps and moved to grab a pair of socks, and shoes. They were tiny, like Tony was.
When Steve finally got the little hellion into the kitchen, Bucky and Rhodey were sitting at the table with their own breakfast already. Steve moved over to set Tony down in the high chair next to Rhodey. “Hi, boys. Did anyone try and get Howard to eat anything?”
“Sir, if I may, Howard has already eaten before Bucky and Rhodey had gotten to the kitchen.”
Steve snorted, “Thanks, Jarvis. That’s rare of him. Oh well. What’s my little boy want today, huh? You want oatmeal?”
“Yuck!” Tony looked offended at the very idea, and Steve couldn’t help but laugh. “No oats!”
Steve nodded, “Okay, kitten no oats. How about, some eggs and toast?”
Tony nodded, “Bacon? And and, and lotsa fruit?”
Steve nodded, going about getting stuff out of the fridge to cook. He was going to cook a lot, since him and Bucky need such high calorie intakes, Bucky would probably be hungry even after he finished his cereal, and Steve could eat about half the kitchen’s worth of stuff.
He looked over at the counter, and turned to smile at Bucky, when he found the other soldier had already put a plate of cut up fruit out for him. He took the fruit over to where Tony was sitting, and put a big of it on the high chair tray for him to pick at while he cooked. He put the rest of the tray on the table for Rhodey and Bucky to feed to him when he ran out.
Tony could eat quite a lot for someone who wasn’t even two foot three.
“Hey, kitty baby, what are you and Daddy gonna do today?”
Tony grinned at Bucky, so excited in his seat, he was nearly vibrating. “I’m, I’m, I’m, me and Daddy are gonna go outside today!”
Bucky smiled at his enthusiasm. Rhodey looked completely enamoured. He loved that kitten, even when Tony wasn’t a big boy, he loved that kitten. “ Outside? But kitten, you went outside yesterday.”
Tony nodded, shoving a big piece of honeydew melon in his mouth with a grin. “Yeah, Papa. We’re gonna do it again! I I, I wanna be an outdoor kitty when I grow up!”
The other three in the room couldn’t hold back their snorts. That’s not the first time Tony’s made that declaration, and they doubted it’d be the last either. There was one thing they knew though. Tony would be a lot little kitten without TV and Daddy to change his diapers.
Of course, he insisted that they could bring a TV outside, and that Daddy would live there with him, but it was never a dream that pandered out.
Steve just smiled down at his little kitten. Gosh, he loves this baby boy.
***
When Steve and Tony were making their way to the foyer later on, they got there just in time to see Pepper opening the doors for someone.
Someone that Steve knew.
“Hey, Phil, you’re here early. You weren’t supposed to come until tomorrow.”
Phil raised an eyebrow, and Tony let out a soft noise from where he was seated on Steve’s hip, pointing to the ground behind Phil. “Birdy, Daddy.”
Steve’s eyes flickered downward, and he smiled at the two hybrids that were stumbling in the doors after him. “I see you brought Clint and Natasha.”
The hybrids Clint -a feathered cockatiel- and Natasha -a cat hybrid- both gave him their versions of warm smiles, and Steve grinned back, gently swaying in place with his little boy, who was starting to fuss just a bit.
Phil shook his head, “No, I was quite sure I got the day right, I even double checked on my way here.”
Steve blinked for a few seconds before looking at the ceiling. “Jarvis, did I get the day wrong?”
Jarvis paused for a few seconds before answering, “I believe you did, Captain.”
Steve frowned, “Oh darn. Either way, I’m so glad you guys are here. Are Sam, Bruce, Thor and Peter following?”
Phil nodded, “Yes, but actually, I brought Peter with me. He’s very much asleep in the car though, so I would prefer to immediately move him into a bedroom.”
Steve nodded, “He needs a nursery, right? There’s one open right across the hall from Tony, so you’ll get the bedroom right next to him for if he needs you at night-”
“Actually, Wade has asked if he could take over Peter’s care while here.”
Steve paused. He wasn’t so very sure that Wade Wilson would be the best caregiver for the kitten hybrid, but he trusted Phil’s judgement. “Well, alright. But if he needs any help with him, he better ask.”
Phil nodded, “As I’ve already told him. Should I go get Peter from the car?”
Steve nodded.
While Phil left, Clint came a little closer till he was at Steve’s knee. Steve gave him a curious smile, but the bird only seemed to have eyes for the little in Steve’s arms. “That’s Tony?”
Steve nodded, watching out of the corner of his eye as Bucky and Rhodey came into the room, greeting Natasha at the door. He’d be fine, they could entertain her. “Yeah, Clint. This is Tony. He’s just a kitten, not very big.”
Clint nodded, “I’m little too, but Daddy says I’m a big boy, a’cause I don’t use diapers, or bottles, and I sleep with him, not in a nursery. I help him with baby Peter sometimes.”
Tony looked between the two of them, sucking hard on his paci in thought. Steve just gave him a kiss to the head and reached to scratch behind the feather placement behind Clint’s right ear. “That’s really nice of you, Clint. Do you like taking care of the baby?”
Clint sighed, nuzzling into Steve’s hand while Steve watched Phil come back with the sleeping kitten on his shoulder. Bucky went to them though, so Steve stayed, entertaining the baby and little. Clint’s big eyes opened back up, the pupils dilated in a way that human pupils never could. “Yeah. Babies are little, and they need to be played with lots, and they need love. Otherwise they probably die or something. But they need you to love them, so I love them.”
Steve couldn’t wipe the sappy grin off his face if he tried. “Don’t worry Clint, littles need love too, so I love them also.”
It’s true. Littles did need love.